Will any new Rifle or Pistol cartridge/caliber become common?

[Browning]

With the popularity of 9mm, I have been shooting 9mm out of 40S&W Glocks with thicker chamber/barrel walls for decades now and would love to see 9mm Major become mainstream.

Remember the 45 Super? Now ponder 124 gr bullet at 1400-1500 fps. Further imagine 124 gr bullet at 1600-1700 fps shot out of carbines.

We could call the new caliber 9mm Super and make modification so normal 9mm barrel could not chamber the 9mm Super ammunition and adjust the recoil spring rate for comfortable/manageable shooting.

Benefits would be smaller high capacity package with lower cost.

I mean, if 9mm is good, 9mm Super would be better, right?

It's already been made....9x25 Dillon.

They can get a 124 gr. to 1700 out of a pistol.

(Was to make power factor back in the 90's)

Edit : https://www.underwoodammo.com/9x25mm-dillon-124-grain-bonded-jacketed-hollow-point/

 

[Jim Watson]

But 9mm P is already pushing Magnum pressures.
bds postulates 9mm Super with the ballistics of 9x23 (124 gr 1460 fps 55,000 psi) in a cartridge the same as only not interchangeable with 9mm Para.

USPSA racegunners claim 9mm P Major at SAAMI pressure, which seems spooky to me.

 

[kozak6]

I think I can see a slight gap for a .30 or .32 magnum rimless pistol cartridge. Something suitable for a micro .380 frame, but more shootable with acceptable performance. I know NAA already tried and failed, but if one of the big manufacturers tried something similar, it might work.

 

[Cannibul]

I'd be all over a .22 to .25 caliber straight wall reloadable cartridge. Rimmed or rimless, it would not matter.

Then get Ruger to build a rifle like the 10/22 for it!

 

[HexHead]

Should the Hearing Protection Act pass, the popularity of .300BLK will skyrocket.

 

[Blacksmoke]

I'm sure there was a time when the 32-20, 44-40, 30-40 Krag, and many others were seen as the "go to", and that they would be forever and ever.

Three great cartridges for their time. At least .32-20 and .44-40 were given a new life with the CAS movement. The poor old Krag seems to have little going for it which more modern cartridges cannot do better.

 

[Sunray]

The Nosler's and most other stuff are answers to unasked questions. Lotta that in Firearms Land. Worst of it is that the MBA's running the assorted company's marketing think nothing of discontinuing stuff with zero regard for existing customers.
"...40 A/E..." .41 AE, and yes I did. snicker. Also bought 500 pieces of brass at the same time as the barrel. Otherwise, I'd have a really odd looking paperweight.

 

[cdk8]

I think new cartridges will still see adoption to a certain extent. However, in order to see very widespread adoption I think at least one of several things would have to happen, such as large scale adoption by a military, numerous LEAs, civilian shooters, or more than one.

Here are my predictions...I think...
.357 SIG - could gain popularity, especially if ammo prices and/or shortages arise again, which may lead some .40 shooters to consider a .357 barrel for hand guns with the ability to fire both. Many LEOs seem very happy with its real-world performance.

.380 - will continue to become more popular as more small, reliable, and affordable carry pieces come to market, as does advanced ammunition that works well with shorter barrels and the lower energy of the .380. If the future is more carry-friendly, this will be accelerated.

9mm - will only become more popular, as modern ammo has responded to the historic shortcomings that may have played a role in some shooters/organizations looking to other calibers

Perhaps something new between .32 and .380 for smaller CCW autoloaders?

.300 Blackout - will continue to grow because it offers a variety of benefits packaged into the AR-15 platform, ending in a versatile weapon that may get a popularity push from military adoption. It holds strong potential for personal defense, LE, and military usage.

.338 Lapua - with increasing presence within both armed forces and among civilian shooters, it's going to continue to grow, although the higher cost and amount of land needed to fully push it will probably ensure it never becomes the next .308

.338 Norma Mag or .300 Norma Mag - in the off chance that it is adopted as a machine gun round by any of our Military branches, it could take off and it seems like it could make a darned fine machine gun round to fill the gap between .308 and .50.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I'd be all over a .22 to .25 caliber straight wall reloadable cartridge. Rimmed or rimless, it would not matter.

Then get Ruger to build a rifle like the 10/22 for it!

The .25 ACP already exists.

 

[george burns]

Look at the 22TCM, it took years for it to get this far. That is , "far enough to even start to be noticed". It is highly unlikely in this climate, that struggling firearms manufacturers are going to spend billions on a new round & a line of guns to shoot it. We have more than enough stuff out there already. What we need is the passage of the Legislation for supressed firearms to be able to be legally carried and used. That would open a whole new market for both Tactical and civilian shooters who would all have to get at least 1 supressor. Then you will see innovation begin again. Everyone will be scrambling to build internally supressed guns for hunting and carry.
Markets need a push, sometimes with what's already out there, but restricted for use.
I know everyone I know would buy a supressor for their HD and SD guns, let alone Target and hunting. Just think about how a supressed rifle would enable hunters not to notify every animal within a 5 mile radius that they are hunting.
The downside is what, hitmen? they already have one. Same goes for gangs and terrorists. Besides terrorists want to inflict the greatest amount of fear into peoples heads and hearts, so loud noises are a positive to their cause.
Most folks don't think about the hearing loss they will suffer if they ever had to actually shoot at someone indoors, with tile or hardwood floors and no sound absorbent material, until they pull the trigger. The eardrums will be blown out almost for sure, with a shotgun or a pistol, being fired multiple tiimes.
The only thing that really is a negative would be an active shooter, when no one could hear the shots to run away from them. Although they really need to run tests to see how valid that really is.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

While we're at it, lets work on lifting the ban on short-barreled weapons and shoulder stocks.

 

[entropy]

I mean, if 9mm is good, 9mm Super would be better, right?

Reference 9mm WInchester Magnum. Note that it was not popular then, and would not be if reintroduced.

 

[LiveLife]

Wikipedia is showing 1450 fps for 9mm Winchester Magnum (9x29mm) using 115 gr bullet while 9mm Major (9x19mm) achieves the same 1450 fps with 124 gr bullet.

Here are the break down:

9x19 Major - 1450 fps 124 gr FMJ

9x19 Parabellum - 1300 fps 115 gr FMJ / 1200 fps 124 gr FMJ
9x19 +P - 1350 fps 115 gr JHP
9x21 - 1300 fps 115 gr FMJ / 1200 fps 124 gr FMJ
9x23 (Winchester) - 1460 fps 124 gr JSP / 1450 fps 125 gr JHP
9x25 (Dillon) - 1800 fps 115 gr Speer GD / 1700 fps 125 gr FMJ
9x29 (Winchester Magnum) - 1450 fps 115 gr FMJ

 

[lightman]

I predict that only a few new calibers will become popular. The 6.5 Creedmore and the 300BLK will have a chance. I'm thinking the Noslers will have a short life, as well as most of the WSSM's. Anything adopted by the Military or popular with law enforcement will enjoy long life. The old standbys should hold their own. Just my thoughts.

I have a large tub of range brass that I have collected from different places since summer. I'll sort it out, clean it and store it away sometime during the winter, after hunting season is over. I plan to keep a loose tally of calibers just to satisfy my curiosity. I can tell that its heavy in 223, 9mm, 40S&W, 45 ACP and 308. No surprises there.

 

[Cannibul]

The .25 ACP already exists.

Something with a bit more power.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Something with a bit more power.

Then you'd need a longer case, since the original idea was a straight case.

For a reloadable .22, the .22 Hornet is ideal. I load a 40 grain flat-based bullet over 2.7 grains of Bullseye to duplicate the .22 LR.

 

[justice06rr]

My speculation is that no new caliber will become as popular as those that are widely used already. Its a matter of supply and demand.

Military, LE, and Civilians use mostly 308, 5.56/223, 9mm/40/45, 380, 22lr, and a few other calibers that are produced by manufacturers. Any new-fangled caliber will not gain traction unless it is widely adopted.

I was hoping that 300BLK would get more popular since it is an easy transition in the AR15 platform, but even that hasn't seen any traction in a last few years.

 

[Flechette]

Any current cartridge is a compromise between bullet mass, velocity, physical size and recoil.

A pistol cartridge that is physically too big cannot be used in an auto handgun since it cannot fit into the handle. A cartridge can be too big for a rifle if it gives too much recoil for practical use.

Thus I think that today's cartridges are pretty much at the end of the evolution line unless some new technology is created.

The way out of this conundrum is to increase the chamber pressures. This way a small cartridge can throw a small bullet at high velocities and increase the energy into the target while keeping recoil low. Imagine a super-high pressure cartridge launching a 20 gr. bullet at 5000 fps.

Such a round would create a large wound on living tissue since the hydrostatic shock would damage flesh well beyond the point of impact. The velocity would also increase penetration, in flesh as well as defeating armor.

This would, of course, require the gun to be capable of handling the super-high pressures.

 

[Llama Bob]

I think the 10mm is here to stay. There are lots of guns, they by and large run well now, there are hunting applications, it's more powerful than the auto loader competition, and not in a way that beats the shooter to death. People like powerful guns when they don't hurt to shoot.

On the rifle front, 6.5mm Creedmoor is a clear winner. The slow twist rifle base and shoulder being too far forward doomed the .260, but the 6.5CM has none of those problems and more than enough following to keep going. The 6mm Creedmoor displacing the .243 is a dicier proposition as they're functionally equivalent.

.300 BLK is being driven by the terminal ballistics failings of 5.56, not the suppressor market. There aren't enough suppressed ARs out there to make a market. I think we will see some sort of autoloader round between 5.56 and .308 - something with more punch but in a small frame AR. However I doubt any of the existing tries will successes - something on the order of a 6mmSPC shooting about a 90 gr. bullet is about what's needed. With a Hornady ELD-type tip that would give you the trajectory of a .308 and terminal performance suitable for medium game and humans unlike the 5.56.

 

[Llama Bob]

The way out of this conundrum is to increase the chamber pressures.

Not necessarily. The other way is to gain greater control of powder burn rate so you can maintain max pressure for much longer as the bullet travels down the barrel. This would presumably take the form of carefully delaying the burn of some granules of powder (but not all). It would require both as-yet unknown chemistry, as well as increasing either the case capacity or the energy density. But the result could potentially be a 2x increase in muzzle velocity with no corresponding increase in the length of the barrel or required gun or brass strength. There might also be issues with powder settling - if you get a charge of all fast granules, you'd blow up the gun. Still, it is possible to do better than we're doing.

 

[JSH1]

I would like to see the .327 Federal Magnum stick around. It is promising to see that Ruger is selling 3 revolvers in the chambering and in 2017 Henry is going to be the first to offer a rifle for it.

A recently got a .357 Mag and was surprised to find that ammo selection is pretty limited around me. I can go into a store and they will have 10 different types of .45 ACP but only 1 or 2 selections for .357 mag.

 

[Cannibul]

Any current cartridge is a compromise between bullet mass, velocity, physical size and recoil.

A pistol cartridge that is physically too big cannot be used in an auto handgun since it cannot fit into the handle. A cartridge can be too big for a rifle if it gives too much recoil for practical use.

Thus I think that today's cartridges are pretty much at the end of the evolution line unless some new technology is created.

The way out of this conundrum is to increase the chamber pressures. This way a small cartridge can throw a small bullet at high velocities and increase the energy into the target while keeping recoil low. Imagine a super-high pressure cartridge launching a 20 gr. bullet at 5000 fps.

Such a round would create a large wound on living tissue since the hydrostatic shock would damage flesh well beyond the point of impact. The velocity would also increase penetration, in flesh as well as defeating armor.

This would, of course, require the gun to be capable of handling the super-high pressures.

It's not the gun that's the problem. It's the brass.

 

[Cannibul]

I would like to see the .327 Federal Magnum stick around. It is promising to see that Ruger is selling 3 revolvers in the chambering and in 2017 Henry is going to be the first to offer a rifle for it.

A recently got a .357 Mag and was surprised to find that ammo selection is pretty limited around me. I can go into a store and they will have 10 different types of .45 ACP but only 1 or 2 selections for .357 mag.

Revolver ammo is not a big seller any longer. Just go take a look at the case at your local gun store. Count the revolvers. Now count the autos. Do the math.

 

[george burns]

Any interest in the Sphinx, it seems like a lot of money for a pistol that doesn't even include Night sights for a thousand dollars.
Is there something I missed?I read a comparison report from one of the online reviewers "whose name escapes me", may have been "box of truth", but it compared it to the CZ P 07, and they came out about the same, minus about $500.00 on the price. The guys who I have seen review the gun, "the usual suspects" all liked the gun, and it is made like a swiss watch, but not a custom gun, and nothing really better than a CZ for tupperware @ 5-6 hundred bucks. I thought H&K or Sig, would have the highest prices on a 9mm Hammer fired pistol.
I mean they all have a more expensive line of guns, but their standard 9mm 15 round gun is usually 5-6 hundred to start out with a less expensive gun usually like the stryker fired guns in the 5-6 hundred range. This is quite a jump up to start out at $1000.00, with a hammer fired like the P30 minus a following of any kind other than they are made by Kriss.

 

[Flechette]

Revolver ammo is not a big seller any longer. Just go take a look at the case at your local gun store. Count the revolvers. Now count the autos. Do the math.

Depends on where you live.

It appears to me that the more rural areas like revolvers more than urban areas. I think that this is because they generally can be more powerful than autos. If people can open carry strapping on a .44 mag or more is socially acceptable.